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New Girls
''New Girls ''is the eighth book in the Middle School Experience series. It describes Daphne, Maryann, and Regina's experience at Lakewood Middle School. The girls try to make the most of their time at Lakewood, but their new experience does not make them immune to problems. There are three new girls at Lakewood--Daphne, a goofy former private school girl; Maryann, a talented actress and singer from the Big Apple; and Regina, a quiet artist. Unfortunately, the new girls don't feel welcome. Chloe feels like Maryann is a threat to her acting career, Regina feels ostracized by Leah for her style choices, and Daphne struggles to keep up her grades. Will the girls be able to adjust to their new school and be welcomed into a loving group of friends? Summary Chloe is in her first period language arts class when Vice-Principal Clayton interrupts class and introduces a new student named Maryann Chang. Maryann is assigned to sit behind Chloe. After class, Chloe introduces herself to Maryann. The girls quickly figure out that they both like theater and become friends. Chloe invites Maryann to eat lunch with her and her friends. Maryann goes to her next class, health. She sits next to a girl drawing in a sketchbook and tries to make conversation with her, but the girl appears to be dismissive towards her. The teacher, Coach Johnson, informs the class that they have two new students in the class: Maryann and, to her surprise, the sketchbook girl, who introduces herself as Regina. Coach Johnson announces to the class that they have to work on a group assignment. A blonde girl, who later introduces herself as Daphne, decides to work on the assignment with Maryann and Regina. As the girls work on their assignment, Maryann and Regina talk about being new students, and Daphne reveals that she used to be a new student; she attended private school in elementary school but switched to public for middle school, not knowing anyone. After class, Daphne asks Maryann and Regina if they have somewhere to sit at lunch. When Maryann tells Daphne about her situation, she gets upset at first, but Maryann decides to invite Daphne and Regina to sit with her and Chloe. Chloe and Maryann agree to meet up for lunch at Chloe's locker, and Maryann informs Chloe that she is bringing a couple of friends to sit with them, which unnerves Chloe a little. Still, Chloe acts polite to Daphne and Regina when she is introduced to them. The girls walk to the cafeteria, where Chloe meets Maryann's older sister, Melody, who is an eighth grader. Chloe begins to feel a little jealous that Maryann and Melody are making friends very quickly. Eventually, the girls make their way to Chloe's table, where Chloe introduces the new girls to her friends. Regina tells the girls that she used to go to school on the other side of town, and Daphne mixes up her story about why she moved, which weirds out Chloe. Ellie reveals that she has seen Daphne before, when they had the same art class during the previous semester. Regina asks if there is an art club at Lakewood and reveals that her old school didn't have. Chloe and Arabella inform Regina that the art club only allows new members at the beginning of the year, but suggest that Regina help built sets with some of the art students. They invite Regina to come to that afternoon's drama club meeting, and Maryann and Daphne decide to come along as well. Everyone is mostly satisfied by the new girls' presence except Leah, who states to Chloe, Gail, and Arabella privately that she thinks Regina and Daphne are weird. That afternoon, Chloe, Arabella, Maryann, and Regina walk to the auditorium for the drama club meeting. They meet Daphne there, but Chloe is surprised that Daphne isn't socializing with anyone, which she finds strange. Ms. Thomas informs the drama club members that they have a lot to do to get ready for the spring musical, ''Grease, ''including getting the sets built and adding more students to be background characters for the chorus. Chloe encourages Arabella to try out, and Daphne and Maryann decide they want to try out as well. Maryann reveals that she had gotten a lead role in a school musical at her old school and sings a song from "The Wizard of Oz", which makes Chloe extremely jealous. Maryann's singing attracts the attention of Ms. Thomas and her peers. Daphne asks if chorus members can get a solo, but she is ridiculed by the other students. Regina approaches Ms. Thomas and shows her a sketch of what she wants the sets to look like, and Ms. Thomas immediately puts her on set-building duty. During rehearsal, many of the students gather around Maryann and continue to ask her questions about her life in New York City, and Chloe begins to feel very annoyed. She decides to sit with Daphne, but Daphne immediately decides to leave. Chloe begins to regret inviting the new girls to sit with her at lunch. Daphne and her brother Steven arrive home late for dinner, which irks their parents. Hector and Barbara ask their children how their days at school went. Steven and Daphne's other brother Brennon talk about their triumphs at school, and Daphne talks about tryouts for the chorus, but her parents don't seem to care. Her parents tell her that she should focus on school and her poor grades instead of the drama club, but Daphne gets angry and storms upstairs. Daphne has been in a bad mood ever since she was taunted for her question in drama club. As she thinks about her day, she thinks about how it has been her best school day in a long time, due to her finally having friends. She wants to keep her friends without letting her issues get in the way. Regina is eating dinner with her family and talking about how her first day at Lakewood went well. She likes it a lot more than her old school, where she was friendless and bullied over her interests. She had experienced some animosity at Lakewood today, but she is trying not to let it bother her and keep her from enjoying her middle school experience. The next morning, Maryann asks Chloe if she wants to hang out before homeroom, but Chloe doesn't respond to her text. Maryann then spots Arabella, Gail, and Leah walking together, and Arabella invites her to hang out with them. Things go well, until Leah makes a remark about Regina that Maryann doesn't like. In language arts class, Maryann asks Chloe where she was, but Chloe acts dismissive towards her and begins ignoring her. Maryann realizes that Chloe had become annoyed when she had talked about herself during drama club yesterday, but Maryann begins to feel annoyed by Chloe's attitude. At the beginning of lunch, Maryann runs into Logan and Toni and confides in them about her problem with Chloe, but they tell her not to worry about it too much, since Chloe gets jealous very often. During lunch, Chloe is cold to Maryann, Regina, and Daphne. Leah makes an indirect jab at Regina's style again, and Maryann begins to feel unwelcome at the table. At the next drama club meeting, Chloe isolates herself from the rest of the drama club members, who are still obsessed with Maryann. During rehearsals, Chloe hears a few eighth graders making fun of her, and Brandi tells her that Maryann told Logan that Chloe was a bratty actress who throws diva tantrums. The majority of the drama club members are outside working on the sets. Maryann confides to Regina and Arabella about Chloe's behavior, and Regina suggests that she talk to Chloe. However, at the end of the meeting, Chloe screams at Maryann over the rumor that she had spread and denounces their friendship. Daphne had missed the meeting and the drama, and she assumes that everything is cool with her friends. She had mustered up the courage to ask her parents if she could try out for the chorus for ''Grease, ''and her parents had accepted it, as long as she improves her grades for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, Daphne does terribly on a math quiz that she didn't study for, and her social studies teacher tells her that her parents will be getting an email about Daphne's poor grades. Daphne's day doesn't improve when Maryann and Regina inform her of what had happened in drama club yesterday and state that they weren't going to sit with Chloe and her friends anymore. During lunch, Daphne tries to convince them to change their minds, but they don't and decide to sit with Melody, Logan, and Toni instead. Daphne goes to Chloe's table, but is greeted coolly. When Daphne vents about her issues with school, Chloe makes a rude remark, which hurts Daphne. Daphne leaves the table and goes to the bathroom to cry. Regina misses sitting with Chloe and her friends. She decides to talk to Gail, Alex, and Jessie when she seems them in the hallway, but unfortunately, Leah is there also. Leah indirectly calls Regina's clothes "rags", and Regina snaps and blows up at her. Later at the drama club meeting, Maryann notices that Chloe is acting more hostile than usual towards her. Eventually, she learns that Chloe is spreading gossip about her. Maryann confronts Chloe about her behavior. Chloe accuses Maryann, Daphne, and Regina of trying to take everything over, and Maryann accuses Chloe of being jealous. Chloe storms out of the room, and Maryann feels bad that she had lost the first friend she made at Lakewood. Daphne braces for the worst when she returns to school the next day. However, Ellie comes up to her in the hallway and apologizes for not standing up for her at lunch. Daphne reveals her struggles with ADHD, school, and friends to Ellie. Ellie is supportive and tells Daphne that she wants to be her friend. She invites Daphne to sit with her at lunch and promises to be a better friend. Daphne realizes that things can get better for her, she just has to be patient and wait for the changes. Chloe regrets her behavior towards the new girls. In language arts, Mrs. Lewis has the students partner up to work on an activity, and Chloe decides to partner with a reluctant Maryann. As they work, Chloe confesses that she was jealous of Maryann because of her lead role and popularity. She apologizes for not making Chloe feel welcome, and Maryann accepts her apology. Regina is reluctant to be around Maryann and Daphne after everything that went down between them yesterday, but after they talk everything out in health class, the three make up. At lunch, Chloe apologizes to Daphne and Regina. After lunch, Regina has a talk with Leah about their conflict. Leah apologizes to Regina for her shallow and mean-spirited behavior and Regina learns not to make assumptions about people for not accepting her right away. The two girls decide to become friends. After a few weeks, things start improving in Maryann, Daphne, and Regina's lives. They have found a great group of friends to hang out. Regina is continuing to help build sets for ''Grease ''and Daphne and Maryann are chorus singers in the musical. Daphne is also steadily improving her grades, with help from her friends. Characters (in order of appearance) * Chloe Winters * Vice-Principal Clayton * Maryann Chang * Coach Johnson * Regina Daniels * Daphne Carson * Melody Chang * Arabella Wilson * Gail Edwards * Jessie Sanchez * Ellie Jackson * Leah Harrison * Alex Sanders * Angela Thomas * Logan George * Toni Figueroa * Brandi Santiago * Barbara Carson * Steven Carson * Hector Carson * Brennon Carson Trivia *This story was rewritten four times. First edition, 2008. Fourth edition, July 2017. *Originally, this story was going to be about Daphne being bullied by Clarissa, but the creator thought that was a stupid idea. Daphne was written as a wimp, and Maryann and Regina didn't have any personality. The first three editions had that plot, but the recent fourth one has this one. *This is the first appearance of Daphne, Regina, and Maryann. They are recurring characters for the rest of the sixth grade time, but during the seventh grade years, they are upgraded to main characters. Category:Stories